Friday, January 05, 2007

Teeth

I took my seven year old son to the Orthodontist today. They do these things differently these days. I got braces at ten, and, at the time, that was remarkably young. But my dentist recommended orthodonture for Razi when he was four, if I recall correctly. That sounded insane to me, but as time passed it was clear that he had an underbite and perhaps some crowding.

Long story short, he needs braces. He had a lot of baby teeth pulled a few months ago, but he still needs braces. And, of course, it is going to cost a few thousand dollars.

Today alone was $330.

Luckily the girls seem to have good teeth. Which, considering that I was a metal-mouth for seven years, and his paternal grandfather never wore them but really should have, well, one out of three (if that is how it turns out) is awfully lucky.

The women at the Orthodontist's office are very nice. He needed two X-rays today, plus impressions of both the top and the bottom teeth. I was nearby while two of them worked to keep him still for the X-ray (panoramic X-rays are a real challenge for a little kid) and then I sort of watched while this nice woman worked her tail off to get Razi to cooperate for the impressions. Poor kid. He had no idea what was going on, but they managed to get both impressions. Yay! Hopefully he'll not have to do that again. But if he does, I am confident that those nice women will be just as patient and helpful the next time, too.